Margaret Coel's bestselling Arapaho Indian mysteries are drawing the author comparisons to a female Tony Hillerman, and Hillerman himself has called her "a master." In The Dream Stalker, Father John O'Malley and Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden must catch a killer whose dreams are leading to his victims' worst nightmares.

Product Description

From Library Journal

Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden opposes the plan to construct a nuclear waste facility on the Wind River Reservation, but she receives death threats and the enmity of her people for her pains. Good friend John O'Malley, Jesuit priest at the local mission, believes that a murdered Indian he found has some connection to Vicky's troubles, so he investigates?against police advice. Financial problems at the mission, the personal crises of the new assistant, and O'Malley's own temptations of the flesh lend realistic touches to the author's usual commendable plotting and characterization. A fine addition to a successful series.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In this third Father John O'Malley mystery, the head of St. Francis Mission on the Arapaho reservation in Wyoming comes to the aid of attorney Vicky Holden, who has been receiving death threats stemming from her role in protesting a plan to store nuclear waste on the reservation. Soon the pair must catch a killer whose dreams prompt violence. Coel enchants and intrigues by presenting uniformly well developed, realistic characters--from O'Malley and Holden to the most peripheral walk-ons--who face difficult moral choices. Against a vivid landscape and accurate historical backdrop, Coel injects drama and surprise into every corner of her story. Her lively style and western settings, awash in Native Americana, evoke Tony Hillerman's work, and Holden's character will remind readers of Hillerman's attorney, Janet Pete. At the same time, Coel's ability to conjure a mystery out of obscure history suggests Stephen Dobyns' Saratoga series, and O'Malley, with his cranky independence, dry wit, and love of opera, compares favorably to Colin Dexter's Chief Inspector Morse. Heartily recommended. John Rowen

Most helpful customer reviews

Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden plays the Lone Ranger as she opposes theconstruction of a nuclear waste storage silo on the Legeau Ranch near theWind River Reservation in Wyoming. Most of her tribe see the silo as an opportunity for jobs, but Vicky worries that the site will harm her people.

Her vocal opposition has stirred up the enmity of her opponents. One of them wants to quiet Vicky and all other opposition to the construction by using any means at his/her disposal. One opponent to the site is killed and Vicky nearly becomes a victim also. She turns to her one known ally, Father John O'Malley. Working as a team, the intrepid amateur sleuths begin to investigate why someone wants any opponents to the silo silenced. As they dig deeper, the pair becomes aware of their own attraction to each other. Still, they must solve the case if they plan to survive the silo construction.

Margaret Coel is rightfully being acknowledged as the female Tony Hillerman. The lead protagonists are wonderful characters and the story line is a very interesting blend of a modern problem (nuclear waste) and Native American folk lore. More novels like THE DREAM STALKER and readers will soon be calling Tony Hillerman the male Margaret Coel.

I have bought Ms. Coel's other mysteries partly because her protagonists and mysteries are interesting, and partly because they are set in my home state. In this particular story, however, science was murdered in addition to a drunken cowboy, a tribal chairman, and odd assorted other unfortunates. Irritating careless errors certainly decreased my enjoyment of the book and detracted from the storyline. For instance, Ms. Coel has lightning flashes that follow closely after claps of thunder, "underground lakes" that are filled up with water pumped into oil wells to increase production, and "one to the minus six" being "much less" than "one in ten million"...(one to the minus six equals one). I found myself hunting for the next mistake instead of enjoying the mystery. Better luck next time, I hope.

The attraction that Father John O'Malley and Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden feel for each other deepens in this third book of the series. Father John receives an anonymous phone call late at night, requesting a meeting with him. When he goes to the meeting place, he finds an unidentified body whom he is sure is the caller. Meanwhile Vicky is working to oppose a transaction which would allow a ranch to be turned over to a company which will use it for a nuclear storage site. More people die, and Father John is afraid that Vicky will be next. There are abductions, car chases, and other scarey moments while the Jesuit priest and the Arapaho attorney pursue the murderer. There are also the usual glimpses into the Arapaho culture which always enrich Margaret Coel's books. This is another good entry to this series.

I enjoyed the first two novels in this series, but not this one. Her attorney protagonist became a shrill, irrational, self righteous zealot with no facts to support her breathless polemics. (All it would take is an unspecified "natural disaster" and then The Terrible Thing would happen!). The contrived "factual" rationalization for her position was as predictible as it was silly. This is a novel long on overly emotional protagonists drenched in self absorbed angst and prolix, confession prone bad guys, but short on rational plot development. It makes one long for Laconic Joe Leaphorn from Hillerman's novels. If you like the manufactured emotional trapeze of a soap opera, you will like this book.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)

Amazon.com:
23 reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

Third book of the seriesNov. 21 2003

By
Karen Potts
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Mass Market Paperback

The attraction that Father John O'Malley and Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden feel for each other deepens in this third book of the series. Father John receives an anonymous phone call late at night, requesting a meeting with him. When he goes to the meeting place, he finds an unidentified body whom he is sure is the caller. Meanwhile Vicky is working to oppose a transaction which would allow a ranch to be turned over to a company which will use it for a nuclear storage site. More people die, and Father John is afraid that Vicky will be next. There are abductions, car chases, and other scarey moments while the Jesuit priest and the Arapaho attorney pursue the murderer. There are also the usual glimpses into the Arapaho culture which always enrich Margaret Coel's books. This is another good entry to this series.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

A beautiful blend of mystery and mysticismAug. 23 1997

By
A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Hardcover

Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden plays the Lone Ranger as she opposes theconstruction of a nuclear waste storage silo on the Legeau Ranch near theWind River Reservation in Wyoming. Most of her tribe see the silo as an opportunity for jobs, but Vicky worries that the site will harm her people.

Her vocal opposition has stirred up the enmity of her opponents. One of them wants to quiet Vicky and all other opposition to the construction by using any means at his/her disposal. One opponent to the site is killed and Vicky nearly becomes a victim also. She turns to her one known ally, Father John O'Malley. Working as a team, the intrepid amateur sleuths begin to investigate why someone wants any opponents to the silo silenced. As they dig deeper, the pair becomes aware of their own attraction to each other. Still, they must solve the case if they plan to survive the silo construction.

Margaret Coel is rightfully being acknowledged as the female Tony Hillerman. The lead protagonists are wonderful characters and the story line is a very interesting blend of a modern problem (nuclear waste) and Native American folk lore. More novels like THE DREAM STALKER and readers will soon be calling Tony Hillerman the male Margaret Coel.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Third one's a rutJune 14 2014

By
Arthur Digbee
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Mass Market Paperback

This is the third book in Coel’s series of mysteries set in the Arapaho community of the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. She was writing these a bit faster than one a year, and there are signs that the tank is starting to run dry. As in previous books, the plot follows two separate mysteries. As readers of mysteries know, the two different lines of investigation may be connected, or one of them may be a decoy to divert the reader from the real crime.

The denouement entails the murderer explaining the crimes to Father John. That’s always a worrisome sign in a mystery, suggesting that the writer had not left the proper breadcrumbs along the way. And indeed, there’s a last-minute switch of suspects, which necessitates the explanation.

Once again, the Arapaho community faces a tradeoff between traditions and jobs, and once again, Father John and his mission are threatened by a far-off Jesuit Provincial. I’ll continue to read the books for the setting and some of the characters, but it is time for some new plot devices.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

A little cliche, but still a good read.Nov. 23 2006

By
S. Schwartz
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Although this book was somewhat predictable and Ms. Coel seemed to be on her soap box environmentally, I still enjoyed the story. The mystery part of the book was exciting enough, and I still really like Father John. The book is about a large energy company wanting to put a nuclear waste dump site right smack in the middle of Wind River Reservation. Despite all the jobs that this site would yield, Vicky Holden cannot go along with the idea, and she publishes her viewpoints in the local papers as well as at local meetings. Then there is the old cowboy that Father John finds murdered in an abandoned cabin. Do these two things have something in common? Before Vicky and Father John find out, more murders occur on their Reservation. What makes these books so special are Coel's characters. They are very real and very well-drawn. This is a very good series.

A heap of trouble for the mission and the reservationApril 21 2014

By
Patto
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Mass Market Paperback
Verified Purchase

The St. Francis Mission on the reservation is always in the red. The reservation, too, is awash in poverty and unemployment, but that may change if the Arapahos vote to house a nuclear waste storage facility on their lands. Or will such a facility end up hurting the People even more?

Father John O'Malley is smack in the middle of all these troubles. On top of that he finds a body – an old Arapaho shot to death in an isolated cabin. It won't be the last shocking killing on the Rez.

The state of Father John's heart adds another level of tension to the story. He's frankly in love with Vicki Holden, a beautiful Arapaho lawyer, and she loves him. It's an unfulfilled passion, but still this is a rather daring plot complication.

Margaret Coel is a good storyteller. Arapaho cultural references are woven in and with subtlety and sensitivity. Coel's Indian mysteries may lack the ineffable something found in Hillerman's mysteries, but they make for fast, fun reading. And the point of view, centered on a Jesuit priest, is intriguing. I'm enjoying this series.